Now and Then : Here and There
by Emitique
Summary: If you have a childhood sweetheart whom you loved so dearly, then one day vanishes and is believed to be dead by everyone. How will you deal with it when you find him again alive and well but with somebody else? Sasuhina, Sasusaku, Narusaku.... R
1. Children

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Now and Then : Here and There

**by: Emitique**

**Prolouge - "Children"

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It was a night just like any other night I've come to grow familiar with.

I was sitting on my usual place on the veranda of my room. I know that sooner or later **_he _**would show up to pay me one his usual nightly visits where in the two of us would spend a good long time looking at stars whilst enjoying each other's company. We sometimes talk to each other during our special time, other times we just gaze at the night sky in comfortable silence. It's been like this since we were both six years old, and now that he's 12 and I'm on my final moths of being 11 things still haven't changed. This is the way I like it. I don't want us drifting apart as we grow up.

I remember when we first met. It was during a gathering of both our families which was held on the Hyuuga main house. We were still small children back then. We were introduced to each other. The expression he had on his face that day seemed to me that he would rather be anywhere except at the boring adult party we were both forced to attend. I don't exactly remember how we got along. At first I was scared to talk to him because he seemed too grumpy, but as time passed I came to know the real him. He was actually very sweet and kind, there was this time when I was crying because I lost the necklace my grandmother gave me and he looked for it that night and returned it to me the morning after. I could tell that he was out all night looking for it because he still wore the same clothes and he was blemished with dirt and scratches. Ever since that occurrence, I've came to know that he is indeed a nice and warm person, but others see him as a cold person which obviously isn't true. I may be the only one that knows the real him and I'm proud of myself for that. I just wish the others will also see the real him…

My brief reminiscing of our earlier memories was interrupted by a rustle that I heard from the direction of the tree beside my room's balcony.

I looked at the source of the sound and found out that it was caused by my regular visitor. He and I looked at each other for a brief moment. During that time I was able to look at him and his dashing form, I liked his onyx eyes that contrasted mine. Whenever I look at them I see determination, seriousness, sweetness, and mystery at the same time. Anyone would be lost if they look into his enchanting eyes directly.

"Hey…" it was his usual greeting. He would always say that before he joins me in sitting and gazing at the stars. I smiled a little back at him and said "H-hello…"

Ever since I was little, I've had a habit of not speaking straight of stuttering as others put it. But Sasuke-chan never said anything about it, although almost everybody complained about how I speak. Though as I relax and start to get comfortable with the person I'm talking to, my words star to form wholly and so it allows me to speak normally.

Not long later, we were already looking up at the night sky while sitting side by side. By the first 5 minutes we spend together, I already know that something is wrong with my nightly companion. Don't ask me how, I can't quite explain it, I just know 'cause I feel something inside… I couldn't resist, I asked him what was wrong.

"Sasuke-chan, what's the matter?"

We were on the first name basis. Because we were so close to each other that is.

"Why do you ask that, Hina-chan? Does it seem like I have a problem?" he answers back without taking his eyes away from the night sky.

Typical Sasuke, he won't answer you straightly because he doesn't like being questioned. Instead of an answer he'll throw you a question of his own. That's just how he is. That's also one of the reasons why many people avoid talking to him, most people don't like the way he answers question.

I gave him a loud sigh and answered "Sasuke-chan, I know you well enough to tell when you are uncomfortable or bothered about something, and I would really like to help you, but how can I help you if I don't know what your problem is?"

"It's nothing…Don't worry about it…" he said still looking up at the stars.

"_Nothing_ wouldn't make you worry, but you are certainly not ok with something, so it couldn't be _nothing_." I said to him "Besides, you're not even looking at me when you say those things so how can I trust them? Come on, please tell me what's wrong."

He has always helped me out in every problem I came across with and I want a chance to help him back. After all, he is special to me. I can't just sit and do nothing if he has a problem. I need to help and support him, like how he always did for me.

I see him breathe a deep sigh and turns to face me. Finally, I thought he wouldn't tell me anything.

"You see Hina-chan, aniki was supposed to come home this earlier this day from his mission, but still he haven't showed up. I'm, well… I'm starting to worry a bit about him"

Oh, so this is what it's about. Another little known fact about Sasuke-chan is that he is very fond of his family. He loves them very much even though he doesn't show it, that's how he is. He keeps everything inside and tries to act as if he doesn't care, but those who really know him believe the same as I do.

"Sasuke-chan, you said it yourself to me once." I started to answer him "That your brother is a strong shinobi right? So I don't think you need to worry that much about Itachi-san." and reassured him with a smile.

He looks at me for a moment and the expression on his face lightens to a small smile.

"You're right Hina-chan." He said as he looked up at the sky again. He let his gaze linger up to the stars a bit before facing me again and saying.

"Thank you, and sorry for making you worry…."

I blink twice at him. Sasuke-chan really is such a nice person. He's thanking me for making him feel better when he's done that favor for me countless times before, and he's apologizing for making me worry about him when I know that he's always worried about me. He's silly but I like that about him.

"No problem, you can always count on me Sasuke-chan." And I smiled at him again.

He stood up and said "It's getting pretty late. You better get some sleep now… I'll be heading back too."

He assisted me back to my feet and waved a quick bye. I trace him with my eyes until his form is no longer in sight. After that I went to bed.

If only I had known that that night would be the last of the nights we will spend star gazing together, I would've told him back then and there how I really felt about him.

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"Hinata!" knock, knock… "Hinata!!! Wake up!" KNOCK KNOCK! "Wake up Hinata!" BAM, BAM, BAM!!!

The sleeping girl awoke because of the noise from the other side of her bedroom door. _'I wonder what's wrong?'_ thought the now awake girl to herself. She gets up and notice that the sun is barely up in the horizon which meant it was still pretty early.

The girl gets to her door and opens her banging door. Whose banging, gets louder every second. Behind the door stood her cousin who had long black hair and the same white eyes as her. The boy looked like he just ran from a far away distance because he was breathing pretty hard, but what really bothered her was the look of panic on his usually calm cousin's face.

"What's the matter Neji-nisan? You look troubled…" she said worried about her cousin and what the cause of the alarmed look on his face might be.

Neji suddenly grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her once. That panicked look never leaving his features. Hinata was startled by her cousin's sudden harsh action. She'd never seen him act this way before.

"Hinata! T-the…" Neji started to say with his voice just as alarmed as his looks. He was still holding onto Hinata's shoulders

"The what, niisan?" she asked as she was starting to fret about her cousin's behavior.

Neji took one breathe in to steady himself and stop his stuttering in order to deliver the information he has, properly to his cousin.

"The Uchihas… They're------"

Hinata's couldn't believe her ears. After what Neji said she just stood there, unmoving, even her eyes refused to move. She was obviously in shock. Either her mind was not working, or it was working so fast for her to notice what it was doing. Never the less, after the realization sunk in, she tore away from her cousin's hold and sprinted out of the house.

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**Author's Note: **I'll leave it there for now. I will have you all know that I'm a bigger SasuHina fan that a SasuSaku. So this'll probabbly end up with Sasuke and Hinata getting together, but sometimes I like SasuSaku too, so there's also that possibility. (am I a confusing bitch or what?) I'll include Sakura in the next one so stay tuned. Onegai, leave review ne?

Love lots **Emi-chan**


	2. Found Gone

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto. The show, manga, and its characters belong to their respective owner. Please don't sue me for writing, thank you…

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Now and Then : Here and there

**By: Emitique**

**Chapter I- Found Gone

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She ran as fast as her legs could take her. She was still wearing the loose kimono she wore to her bed and hadn't even bothered to stop and put on her slippers. She ran barefooted on the rough way to the direction of Sasuke's home.

She didn't mind that her breath now came in rushed, heavy inhales and exhales. She didn't mind that her soft feet might be full of scratches because of the rough path she was running on. She didn't mind the burning she felt in her chest due to running too far and too fast. All she cared about was going to the Uchiha compound as fast as she can.

She wanted to be there so badly, she wanted to prove Neji wrong.

"_The Uchihas… They're all gone…."_

She shook her head as she mentally heard Neji's voice again and the awful news he brought.

"_Their whole compound was found earlier today, it was totally burnt down to the ground. The elders suspect that there must have been an ambush attack to the whole lot of the Uchihas…"_

She didn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. No, it can't be. She was just talking to him last night. She was just with him last night… it can't be.

"_They searched everywhere but they can't find any member that is still alive… and because almost all of the bodies are totally burnt they can't identify anybody anymore."_

Try as hard as she might, she just can't shake the voice and its messages out of her head. Neji's words kept on repeating inside her head, by far driving her crazy.

'_I do not believe it! I WILL not believe it!' _Hinata thought as she kept on her painful run to the Uchiha compound.

'_Sasuke-chan… Sauke-chan will never leave me! I believe that he will never leave me!'_ she tried to convince herself as she run off closer to her destination. All the while she was trying to hold back the tears that were starting to burn her eyes.

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"It must've been a very powerful group of ninjas that took them out…" said one of the elders of the white-eyed clan.

"I agree… The Uchihas are one of the most powerful clans. They will not be defeated by just any group of shinobis." answered the other.

After the devastating situation of the Uchihas was found out by some of the villagers, they quickly reported it to the nearest group of people they could find; the Hyuuga Clan…

The Hyuugas and the Uchihas had a close relationship. Being two of the village's most powerful and important clans, they made a close tie of friendship with each other. All of their members are close with one another… And the news of the Uchihas, being attacked certainly affected their close friends.

After assessing the situation and finding it to be in the worst case scenario, the Hyuuga elders and officials decided to hold a meeting that will decide on their further actions.

"I propose we hold an investigation to track down those wicked rats that did that horrible thing them." said a particular hot headed official of the clan.

"Yes, I think we all agree that we want justice for their dreaded untimely demise." Agreed the other

"We hear what you're all saying gentlemen, but the final decision will still have to come from our head leader." said another one of the officials.

All of the men gathered up in the room looked at the man in question. Hyuuga Hiyashi, the current head of their clan, a man know for his discipline, power, and great leadership values. It's only natural for them to leave the decision up to their leader. All they can do to help is provide him with ideas and some options.

Hiashi looked to his co-clan members with the eyes of a man that has already come to a resolution. He started to open his mouth and all of the people inside the room focused their whole attention to him.

"After this discussion of ours, I've come to a final decision with your help…" all of the others tensed their ears in order not miss what their leader will say next.

"We will hold an investigation in order to seek out the people that did that awful thing to the Uchihas. We will have our own shinobis work on that…" Hiyashi said with his ever significant tone of voice. The other officials and elders were glad that their leader finally decided on what to do.

"But before anything else," he continued "we should arrange a proper funeral ceremony for our dear departed friends…"

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"No…"

At the once splendid and great entrance to the compound of some of the most special group of people, that was now reduced to just half standing because the other half seemed to have been burnt down, stood a pale, devastated looking young girl.

After running such a long distance in a time which seemed like forever to her, she finally arrived to her destination. And instead of being relieved, it was more fear and anxiety that washed over her.

She tried to have an optimist's hope on things back when she was rushing over to this place. She wanted everything to be fine when she got here. She wanted the thing Neji told her to be just a lie or a big joke… but now that she's already here and her eyes looks upon the prospect home of her bestfriend reduced to mere charcoal and ashes, the tears she worked so hard to keep inside now flowed freely along her beautiful pale face.

"T-this… This isn't true…" she said as she let her eyes roam over the Uchiha compound. Her foot slowly moved in front of the other and pretty soon she was walking slowly, as if in a trance through the area.

Her feet unconsciously took her to the place where Sasuke's house once stood. The second floor of the structure was completely gone, along with the ceilings, leaving the place vulnerable to sunlight. The door still stood ajar, but it seemed like a gust of wind will be able to knock it away with ease.

She entered the charcoal colored place and wondered inside the house. She could still picture how it looked like when she and Sasuke were still playing and spending time together inside it… But now it was nothing more than a burnt down ruin, ready to collapse anytime.

She rounded a corner and stopped to look at the wall which had markings of tiny horizontal slashes, each one above the other. She ran a finger on one of the marks, the marks they made when they were trying to measure up their height.

She remembered all of it so vividly. The two of them were suddenly struck with this idea to see who was the tallest. Sasuke suggested that they stand against a wall and mark it up to where their bodies' altitudes would reach. She agreed and they did as Sasuke proposed. They found out that Sasuke was more than a hair taller than her. But then Sasuke's mother found out that they scratched the wall and they were both scolded and made to rake the whole yard during that week of autumn as their punishment.

After that little reminiscing, a sad wistful smile formed on her lips. That was one of the moments with Sasuke which she will never have again. Not now that he's already gone. She missed him already. How will she ever go on without him? She collapsed on her knees and started to cry hard.

'_Sasuke-chan… No, Sasuke-chan… Why did you have to leave me?'_

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"In all of the places, why did my necklace have to fall here?" a pink haired girl complained as she kept on looking for her lost necklace in the waist-deep water.

She was walking on the bridge a moment ago when the necklace she kept inside her pocket dropped and fell into the water. Ever since that she was dipped in the river looking for her jewelry.

"Mother will throw a fit if she found out that I was careless enough to get the necklace to fall into the river… and she would probably eat me alive if I never find it!" she said to herself worriedly.

As she continued her search for her lost necklace which seemed to be less promising by the minute, her emerald green eyes noticed something out of the ordinary. There, lying unconscious unto the river bank was… a boy? She neglected her search for the piece of ornament and made her way to the unconscious boy to see if he needed help. And from the looks of things, he needed it badly.

The boy was covered from head to toe with scratches, bruises, and cuts. There also seems to be a large wound by his side which was making him lose blood in a fairly quick period of time. The pink haired girl almost started to panic but she subdued her feelings in, he knew that nothing good would happen if she was too harsh. She tried to think of a way to solve this current problem.

First thing's first; she had to get the boy to a place where his injuries can be treated, and she has to do it before he losses more blood. She tried to lift the boy up by placing one of his arms over her shoulder but he just too heavy. She had to think of something else.

"Okay, I could really use some help…"

Just then she saw someone with bright blonde hair walking on the bridge. She thanked the heavens because of the presence of the blonde boy. She quickly shouted to get his attention.

"Hey! Naruto! Give me a hand over here would you!" she shouted to the boy as she waved her arms up high for Naruto to easily notice her.

"Huh? Sakura-chan…" Naruto said before he climbed down onto the river bank and run towards Sakura.

As soon as Naruto found out what's happened, he instantly agreed to help. He heaved the raven haired boy and carried him on his back while Sakura assisted them back up the road. They took off to get the injured boy to the hospital.

'_I guess I'll just have to deal with my mom's fit for losing the necklace later.'_ Sakura thought as the hurried across the streets…

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"How is she?" Neji asked the small girl. The seven year old just shook her head and replied

"She stopped crying for now. But I can tell from her looks that her heart still aches…" Hanabi said with sympathy in her voice.

After her older sister dashed out of the house this morning, they searched for her and found her ling in a curved ball position inside Sauke's house. She was crying when they found her, and when Neji came to touch her shoulder, she automatically clung onto him and cried even harder. They were able to take her back home but the girl refused to leave her room or eat anything, she already missed lunch and if things continue on as they are, she'll miss supper too. Hanabi and Naji are just on the other side of her door, trying to watch over her.

"She still hasn't said a word since this morning." Neji added.

"All she does is cry or stare onto space…" Hanabi said "I don't want to see nee-sama like this…" and the girl looked down to hide her saddened look on her face

"There's nothing we can do…" Neji answered "Let's just hope she gets over it."

"Yes, you're right nii-san…" Hanabi answered as she looked at her older sister's bedroom door.

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Author's Note: Well, there's the first chapter. What do you think? Drop me a review alright? Thanks for reading! **

**Emi-chan**


	3. Acceptance and Living On

**Disclaimer:** I am not the owner of Naruto or any of its characters. This story is made out of my ideas and is being brought to you with no profit coming to me. Please do not sue me for I can not afford an attorney. Thank you.

**Author's note: **Here's chapter two, sorry for the long wait. I'll try my best to update soon. Thanks for reading.

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** Now and Then : Here and There **

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**By Emitique **

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**Chapter II- "Acceptance and Living On"**

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The raven haired young man Sakura found two days ago, was still lying unconscious on the bed, and from the flustered look he has on his face and the sweat beads starting to form on his forehead, one can easily tell he's suffering from a fever.

The pink haired girl looked worryingly at her sudden house guest for the past two days and sighed. She went to wipe the boy's forehead with the damp towel. The boy sure is taking his time on getting well. She wished there was some way she can do something to speed his recovery up.

Haruno, Sakura is a good natured girl at heart… Although sometimes, people takes her for being a spoiled brat just because she is the heiress to the village's most prominent business family. But she learned to play deaf to the nasty rumors spreading around her. Why should the opinion of others matter anyway? She has her family and true friends by her side, what those who are of non relevance to her life think about her shouldn't matter.

Two days ago, she found the sick boy drenched, and nearly hanging on to the river bank. With Naruto's help, one of her few true friends, she was able to get the boy to the hospital. The doctor treated all of the boy's wounds and scratches, although she said it would take some time before the boy recovers from his fever. She said that it would be alright to take the boy out of the hospital for recovery, since all of his injuries were already treated. And thus, they took the haven haired boy to her house for recuperation.

Sakura was still staring at the fevering boy when one of the maids opened the door of the room. Sakura turned her head and looked at who opened the said door. The maid bowed and proceeded inside.

"Sakura-sama, your mother wishes you to come to the dining hall for the lunch meeting with your family's business associates." The maid said politely.

_'Oh, that's right! I forgot all about the lunch meeting. I guess I better get ready then. I'll go back and check on him again right after the meeting…' _Sakura thought to herself after hearing the maid's reminder.

"Alright, I understand… Thank you Akane-san, I'll be ready in a moment"

And with one last look to her new guest, she turned accompanied by Akane and left the room.

Sakura quickly got ready and in a few moments time, she was already standing before the doors to the dining hall. She took one deep breath to ready herself for another discussion and conversation with men and women a lot older than her, not that it was anything new though, her mother always like to include her during business meetings to get her ready when she carries on with their family business.

After she released the deep breath she took, she opened the doors and bowed down to the early occupants inside the room. She walked and seated herself beside a woman with the same pink hair as hers, tied up in a bun and her eyes are a darker shade of pink than her hair. She is her mother, and she sat on the provided cushion on the floor next to her. Small talk could be heard as they killed some time while waiting for the others to arrive.

"So Kikuno, I heard that your daughter over there is such a bright youngster for her age." Said one of the women whose name Sakura hadn't bothered remembering.

"Yes, they say she excels a lot in her studies." Said another

"Well, that's how it should be for the heiress of the Haruno, I guess." Said a man with a chuckle

"She's so lucky, to be born with such a gifted mind…" another woman said slyly

Sakura just sat there, and had her best smile plastered on to her face. If she showed anyone that she is a shy little girl by blushing, she might give them the impression that she's a weakling and they may take advantage of that. It's always been like that, people around her trying to break her down while she tries her best to hold herself together.

"It's not that she's naturally gifted, my daughter _works_ really _hard_ for her achievements." Kikuno replied to everyone, and they stopped talking about her daughter.

_'Finally! Mother came in to the rescue. My stomach was starting to churn from all of those people…"_ Sakura thought relieved.

After a moment, all those who are supposed to be included in the meeting finally arrived. And so, Kikuno opened the table for discussion.

"Today, we'll be talking about the products exchange we are going to have with another village. Our medical specialties are now known by many villages, and thus they are trying to get a hold of us and establish business matters." Kikuno started off with her voice full of seriousness for serious matters

"I heard that there are two villages wanting to ascertain support from the Haruno organization at the same time, how are we going to deal with that?" Asked a random businessman, with a bit of being troubled tracing his voice.

"So how are we going to handle that Mrs. Haruno?" asked a smug lady after sipping some of her tea on the table.

"Of course I've prepared a solution for that." Answered Kikuno confidently. She smiled to her daughter next to her, and Sakura nodded her pink head at her mother's knowing look.

"Now ladies and gentlemen, please listen to my daughter as she reports the plan I assigned her to make concerning the elucidation to this little dilemma of ours." Kikuno said, gesturing proudly to her daughter.

All the persons inside the room automatically directed their attention to the youngest occupant of the four walls. Sakura readied herself and made sure she is well composed. She opened her mouth to give out the details of the plan she formulated out of her mother's request.

_'It's show time… again.'_

And all of the people inside the room almost dropped their jaws as they listened to the plan the little girl made up.

_'I better get this over with, quickly. I should check after him as fast as I can.'_

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"Onee-san, you should change already… Their burial will be commencing soon." Hanabi said to her older sister.

Hinata was standing by her room's balcony, arms hanging lazily to either side of her body. Her naturally beautiful eyes are now all red and puffy from constant crying. She didn't even budge as a cold breeze flowed in which ruffled her bluish black locks of hair and the white curtains of her room. A moment after the gust of cold wind, Hinata finally answered her sister who was standing by her bedroom door, waiting for an answer.

"…Yeah."

Hanabi almost winced at the painful sound her sister's voice still held. She felt really sorry for her sister. Loosing the best and only friend you had must've really hurt if her sister is any indication. Well at least she replies to other people now. Two days ago, Hinata would just continue to stare at space and cry her eyes out. But still, you can't call her reply being only _"…yeah" _as a sign of her getting over it.

"I'll wait for you to finish up okay?" was what Hanabi said before she closed her sister's door, leaving Hinata who was still standing by the balcony where she last encountered her dear friend.

The skies were starting to turn from the color of bright blue to bull grey. Thunder was beginning to sound, and soft lightning illuminated the dim skies. The heavens seemed to know that a lot of people are currently grieving over a great lost.

Almost the whole population of the village attended the Uchihas' burial. It just goes to show how important and popular the clan was. Although most of the people there only came to pay their last respects and only a chosen few actually shed tears for them. Hinata was ranking top among them.

Hinata's eyes were holding no emotion but tears were flowing freely from them. Somehow, that expression told those around her that the girl is having difficulty trying to get her mind to register everything that's happening around and just surrendered herself to her emotions, thus her tears keep flowing.

Her eyes were not really focused on the interment that was going on. Her eyes were fixated on the grey skies as if something fascinating was going on up there. Not long after the last word of farewell to the Uchihas were said, rain started to pour down, and even if her face got totally soaked and stung by the rapid drops of rain that were falling down hard unto her soft pale face, she didn't move an inch. She had to be half dragged by her cousin and sister before she took a step and preceded out of the rain.

HInata was now on her safe and dry home. But her eyes are still looking upon the grey skies as they held that empty look. Hanabi and Neji were looking at her with worry in their hearts. Two days, two days and still Hinata won't look at anybody in the eye. They understand it must because of the trauma she went under when Sasuke and his family died, but it can't be good for her, she's endangering both her physical and emotional health.

Neji was about to come and talk to Hinata when they heard footsteps and saw Hiashi come into the room. The man's white eyes also held sorrow, and had black rings forming underneath them, must be from the lack of sleep after mourning their friends' death. The man nodded to his nephew and younger daughter before taking a step near Hinata and placing a hand on his daughter's shoulder.

Hinata felt the touch of his father's hand. She turned and directed her gaze from the pouring grey sky, to the hand on her shoulder. She didn't look at her father's face, much less his eyes. All she starred at was his hand on her shoulder.

"We need to talk, Hinata…"

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"And that concludes all our agendas for this meeting. Thank you for coming minna-san." Said Kikuno to all the persons inside the room, and they took it as cue to finally leave the room.

As soon as all of the other representatives are out of the room, Kikuno turned to her daughter and gave the girl a soft smile.

"You did great Sakura, I'm sure your father would've been so proud." She said softly as Kikuno cupped her pretty daughter's face with a gentle hand.

Sakura leaned into her mother's touch, savoring the rare moment of tenderness from her mother. "Thank you, Okaa-sama"

As Sakura closed her emerald eyes in order to relish the feeling of her mother's gentle hand on her face, she suddenly remembered about the promise she made to herself that she would look after the boy right after the meeting. And so, as regretful as it might be, she opened her eyes and placed her own hand on top of her mother's. She gave it a loving, gentle squeeze and removed it from her cheeks.

"Okaa-sama, I'll have to go now. I'll see you during dinner." Sakura said before bowing and getting up to leave the room.

She stooped ah she neared the door. She turned to look at her mother again, and her heart was filled with joy to find that her mother still is looking at her with that gentle smile. With one last bow, she turned and slide their traditional wood and paper door open, and walked out of the room.

Sakura's long pink hair flowed and bounced as she sped up her pace towards the room the new boy's staying in. As she turned into a corner, a hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her along. She almost fell over so she had her eyes closed due to shock because of the sudden happenings, but as soon as she got over it, she opened them up to find that a girl with her long blonde hair tied in a ponytail with azure ayes, is holding her hand.

Sakura's expression turned from shock, to annoyance. The girl just maintained a smug look. She snagged her hand out of the blonde's hold and gave the girl a look of irritation. Before saying:

"Ino! You could've given me a heart attack!"

Ino laughed at Sakura's reaction.

"No need to yell at me, I just wanted to catch you attention." The blonde girl said while wiping a small tear from her eye that formed due to her laughter.

Sakura straightened herself and huffed irritably then she said to the other "Well, you certainly caught it…" After a moment's pause she added "So? What's so important, that you have to scare the life out of me first for you to _catch my attention_?"

Ino's face now held a friendly smile instead of that smug expression she had earlier. She opened her mouth and said "Oh, I just wanted to find out if what they say about you picking up another stray is true."

"So the rumors are already spreading huh?" Sakura replied knowingly.

"Ah-ha! So it is true!" Ino said excitedly

"I didn't _pick him up_, I took him in. There's a difference. And I wouldn't call him a _stray_ exactly…"

Sakura was about to add more to her words, but was stopped when Ino spoke abruptly.

"So he's a guy huh? How old is he? Is he cute?" In asked one question after the other…

"Well… From what I can tell, he's about our age… And I'll admit he's pretty good looking…" Sakura said with a blush creeping through her face. "-Wait a minute!" Sakura suddenly exclaimed "What am I doing? I don't have time for this!" And with that, she started to walk away from the blonde girl.

Ino was confused as to why her friend left, so she followed the pink haired girls' step and walked a bit faster in order to catch up with her.

"Why don't you have time?" Ino pried as soon as she caught up with Sakura

"Well, I must go see his condition. He's suffering from a fever you know. And he hasn't woken up since I found him two days ago." Explained Sakura, her eyes looking at the path she's tracking and not to her friend who asked the question.

"Well then, do you mind if I come along?" asked Ino.

"Do I have a choice? You're already following me…" Answered Sakura, which Ino took as a codename for _"sure, why not?"_

"I knew you couldn't say no to me." Ino teased Sakura as she nudge the other girl at the side with her elbow.

Both of them arrived in front of the room Sakura placed the new boy in. She opened the door and went inside, followed almost instantly by Ino. Sakura proceeded to walk next to the stack of drawers and opened one of them to look for something. As Sakura went on about her task, Ino took her time on looking at the unconscious boy.

"Well, you're right. He is suffering from a fever… and he's kindda cute too." Ino said to her friend with a giggle.

"Ha-ha… Very funny Ino." Sakura said as she came over the bed with a thermometer, a small basin and a small towel. She sat the basin down at the table near the bed and placed the thermometer into the boy's ears. A beeping sound resounded and Sakura took a look at the thermometer, after a moment, a sad sigh escaped her lips.

Ino got curious about Sakura's acting, and so she asked "How bad is it?"

"Still no improvement…" Sakura informed her.

The pinkhead went to the table and soaked the towel in the basin, she then squeezed the excess water and placed the damp towel on the flushed boy's forehead. "I had hoped that his fever would at least go down." She said as she looked worriedly at the feverish boy.

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

The loud noise came from outside the room. Ino and Sakura can both hear the rapid steps of the person who called out the pink haired girl's name, rather loudly. Before any of them could react, the door flew open and inside marched the blonde boy who helped Sakura carry the fever cradled boy. Naruto had his ever present grin on his face and a very over-confident look on his smiling eyes.

Ino and Sakura regarded the blonde boy for a moment, before…

"Naruto! You knew we had a sick person in here! Why did you have to be so loud and shout like that! You could've disturbed him!" Sakura lectured Naruto.

Naruto didn't seem to be affected by Sakura's words or how angrily they was spoken, if anything he seemed to take the sentences Sakura snapped as a "hello" for his smile only grew.

"Ne, guess what Sakura-chan!" Naruto said, as if the girl hasn't just snapped at him. "You remember the necklace you were looking for two days ago?"

Naruto's words reminded Sakura that she indeed have been looking for her missing necklace two days ago, but she almost instantly forgot about it as she found her current house guest all soaked and had bruises and cuts allover. She also remembered that she hasn't told her mother about it yet. The necklace was given to her by her mother, and was given to her mother by her own mother. It was a very dear thing to her mother, and she lost it. Her mother would be very upset once she told her…

Sakura was spacing out thinking about ways on how she was going to break the unfortunate news to her mother, when her sting of thoughts were stopped as she heard Naruto's loud and lively voice once again.

"Sakura-chan? Hellooo?" The boy said as he waved a hand in front of Sakura's face.

Sakura caught the hand and stopped it from further moving before answering. "Okay, I'm back… What about the necklace Naruto?" she asked remembering Naruto's word's earlier.

The said boy fumbled inside his pockets while saying "Well you see…" fumbling some more, and then "Taa-daa!"

Naruto held out his hand, and there he held what the cause of the dilemma for Sakura had been…

"My necklace!" Sakura exclaimed.

Naruto handed the golden lace to Sakura which the girl accepted fondly. Sakura was still so baffled about her piece of jewelry being returned to her, so her usual manner of about to say "thank you" was delayed long enough for Naruto to talk again.

"Hehe… Oh! And I have something for him too." Said the boy as gazed at the bed ridden boy, then he again fumbled inside his pockets.

Well that words from Naruto shocked Sakura and Ino even more than the boy finding Sakura's lost necklace. Naruto pulled from his pockets a small paper bag which appeared to contain some powder inside of it. He placed the said bag on the table together with the basin of water and the thermometer.

"It's from Tsunade-baachan. It's supposed to help him get over his fever faster." He declared confidently.

"Wow Naruto! For once you did something good in two consecutive instances!" Ino teased.

The boy made a face before saying "What do you take me for Ino? Someone who can't do anything right, twice in a row?!" Naruto retorted to the other blonde occupant of the room.

"Hey you two! Keep it down. You might disturb him!" Sakura scolded

"I would gladly keep my voice down, if only Ino would stop being the irritable girl that she is." Naruto said.

"Hey, Sakura and I were perfectly _quiet_ and fine on our own until you barged in here!" Ino retorted back.

Sakura sighed and gave up on trying stopping her friends. If she joined in, they would be even louder than they are now. She just ignored the arguing voices of her friends and went to the table to prepare the medicine Tsunade gave them.

\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///

"I wonder what they're talking about… Don't you?" Hanabi asked her cousin

Neji just nodded and continued on what he was doing, which was nothing but look at the door Hinata and her father passed through when they left in order to have their "talk". It had been a few minutes since they left, but to them it feels like an eternity.

_'What could be so important, that He had to take her away from us, before he could talk to her?'_ Neji asked himself

"They certainly are taking their time." Hanabi spoke again… And since Neji was busy talking to himself he didn't bother answering the girl, she got the same reaction out of Neji, a nod, which disturbed the young girl more.

"You know, even during nee-sama's current condition, I prefer talking to her than you… At least she responds in other ways than just a nod." Hanabi said irritated.

Neji felt a bit offended by his cousin's words, but he decided it was fine, since she was right about the nodding thing anyway. Before he decided that he should answer the girl with words this time, his attention went to the door, which opened and revealed the person Hanabi and Neji were both waiting for.

Hinata stood at the door but she didn't make a motion that would seem that she was going to enter. That confused Neji and he decided to call out to his cousin but his younger cousin beat him to it.

"Onee-sam- -" Hanabi started but was cut by word from none other than Hinata herself.

"Hanabi, Neji-niisan" She began as she looked at them with her eyes now not bearing a blank look. "Thank you very much for worrying about me… I'm alright now." She finished as she offered them a small, slightly sad smile.

That declaration Hinata gave, made the two of them feel relieved. Neji was about to open his mouth to say something, when all of a sudden, Hinata spoke once again.

"But I need some time to myself…" She said and caused both of them to be confused "Please leave me alone for a while." And with that said, she closed the door and walked off.

Hanabi got up and was about to open the door to go after her but a hand grabbed her wrist and stopped her from advancing farther. She turned and saw Neji looking at her with disapproving look in his eyes. She tried to struggle out of his hold.

"Let go! She needs company! I don't want to leave her alone!" the girl complained as she try to get free from her cousin's hold but to no avail.

"You heard what she said. Can't you respect her decision?" Neji said to the girl and made her stop struggling.

Hanabi had her eyes fixated to the floor and her hair went with the pull of gravity to cover her features. As soon as she made no attempt to get out of his hold, he let her wrist go. He sighed and talked to the little girl.

"You heard her yourself… She wants to be alone. She'll be alright soon, you'll see." He said trying to sound reassuring.

Despite already looking down onto the floor, Hanabi still managed a small nod. It's a bit ironic how the one that was complaining about getting a lack of response from nodding was now the one doing all the nodding.

Hinata made her way into her bedroom. She went out into her balcony and tried her best to hold all of her tears inside. She held her left hand gently with her right and lovingly caressed the silver band that was not present in her ring finger before.

"Sauke-chan…" she whispered softly "How come you didn't tell me anything?" she asked the wind as if it'll carry her message.

Hinata hugged her hand to her chest and couldn't stop the tears that once again started to fall.

"I won't forget you, Sasuke-chan" She suddenly said determinedly "I will be strong, so that I could fulfill your dream of being strong for you…"

She wiped the tears away and decided that she won't cry anymore. And with one last whisper, she left the balcony, the place where she often saw and talked with Sasuke.

"I love you too…"

\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///

_"Run Sasuke! Run! Get away from here!" _

_It was hot… He could tell that there was a fire. He saw his mother, she was trapped by a big piece of wood almost crushing her to the floor. _

_"Okaa-san!" he cried out as he tried to get to where she is, only to be stopped, as another flaming debris fell from above which blocked his path. _

_He couldn't see his mother anymore, and smoke was beginning to suffocate him. He heard sound of coughing, and then his mother's voice. _

_"Get away from here Sasuke!" _

_"But I can't leave you!" _

_"No! You must go! You must live!" _

_"B-but!" _

_"As long as you're alive there's still hope!" _

_"…" _

_"Go Sasuke! Leave this place! You must LIVE!" _

_Another shower of flaming debris and a loud scream filled the hot atmosphere. After that, he broke off into a run. _

_He ran as far as he could, he didn't care where he was going, as long as it was somewhere far away. He didn't remember how many times he almost tripped over. He didn't remember how many people were chasing after him. And he also didn't remember falling off a cliff and landing on flowing water. _

_All that was imbedded on his mind was the words his mother told him _

_"You must LIVE!" _

\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///

Sakura lifted the boy's head and made him drink some of the solution she mixed from the medicine Naruto brought with him. Instantly he could feel the boy's temperature going back to normal. She set the boy's head back down the pillow and placed the glass with the medicine solution back onto the table.

"Wow, Tsunade's medicine really is effective." Ino said as she placed a hand on the boy's forehead to feel his temperature.

"Hey, don't I get any praise? I was the one who asked her for a medicine you know, and I also brought it here." Naruto complained.

"You guys are at it again…" Sakura reminded "You'll disturb him even more than you already have."

Naruto humped and turned his head sharply away from Ino. Ino on the other hand stuck her tongue out at the boy. She felt the boy on the bed before her shift around so she called out

"Hey Sakura, I think he's coming to…"

Sakura quickly made her way to the bed and found out that the boy indeed is starting to stir. She placed herself beside Ino and the blonde girl moved to give her enough space. The raven haired boy's eyes squinted together pretty hard before slowly opening to reveal onyx orbs.

The boy fully opened his eyes and they met with Sakura's emerald ones. He let his eyes roam around but all he saw was a plain room and two other unfamiliar people, a blonde girl, and a blonde boy. He fixated his eyes to green ones again and with a questioning look, he asked.

"W-where am I?"

\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///o **End of Chapte**r o\\\O///o\\\O///o\\\O///

* * *

**Author's note:** Whew! Done with chapter two… Thanks a lot for reading! Please drop a review if you can. They really boost confidence you know. Let me know what you guys think about this part. It would probably a while before Sasuke and Hinata are rejoined together, about a chapter more or maybe two. Thanks again for reading!

**Emi-chan

* * *

**


	4. Open your eyes, Everything won't be the

**Author's note: **Taa-daa! Like magic, in a kind of "now you see it, now you don't" way. Read on, have fun, and leave a review (pretty please?)

**Disclaimer: **Emi-chan (that's me) doesn't own Naruto, nor any of its characters. This story is purely fan made and I get no profit from it… (Leave a review and I'll get some.)

* * *

**Now and Then : Here and There**

**By:**** Emitique**

**Chapter III- "Open your eyes. Everything won't be the same again." **

* * *

Sasuke felt more or less like… to put it bluntly… like crap 

His body ached all over and the pounding he was starting to feel in his head didn't help one bit. All his muscles screamed in pain as if he was running a marathon, climbing a very tall mountain, and swimming a hundred yards before he fell asleep… and from the way he could feel his skin release unwelcome heat out, he figured he might also be suffering from a fever.

Well, at least the bed he was on was a soft one…

Wait? Why was he on a bed anyway? What happened to him?

His sense of hearing also perked up the same way his sense of feeling did. He could now hear voices chatting. Man, the people inside the room with him are pretty noisy. Can't they see he's feeling awful? It's common sense to leave a person feeling ill alone, or if you ever want to stay with them, you might at least want to keep the noise down so the person could rest quietly. Apparently, the people he's around with are not much into common sense…

And being as he was already awake thanks to the incessant talking of others, he figured it would be the best thing to open his eyes and talk to them, it wasn't like there was anything else for him to do anyway.

What surprised Sasuke the most was the amount of difficulty he had with stirring around and opening his eyes. Each centimeter he shifted, made his body ached more than it already did. Each of his eyelids felt as heavy as an anvil, almost as if they have a mind of their own and they don't want Sasuke to open up his eyes and wake up. But as we all know, Sasuke is a fighter, so he won't give up and lose to his eyelids. So he forced them open with a bit of a groan coming out of his mouth as his sudden change from darkness to actually seeing came over him...

"Hey Sakura, I think he's coming to…"

He heard a voice of a girl talk. He opened his eyes and squinted them a bit to be able to get his fuzzy vision to focus. His head was still lying on the pillow and he didn't dare to lift it up from there, for he knew it would only result in intensifying his headache. He let his eyes scan his surroundings from his pain limited position on the bed… after a moment, he realized one thing…

"W-where am I?" he voiced out more to himself than to the other people inside the room. He wasn't that surprised when he found out that he also had difficulty in talking, pretty much all he did since a moment ago seemed to be uncomfortable so it was nothing new by now.

He can't recognize anything from that room. It was so foreign to him. Even the smell of the air seemed non-familiar to him. He let his eyes scan the faces of those he was with. Two girls and a boy, all of them look about the same age. The girl nearest to him had pink colored hair that reached her back and her green eyes seemed laced with worry. The other girl looked at him with a desiring look on her face as if thinking how cute he was. Her long blonde hair was tied up in a tight ponytail and her blue eyes were fixated on him. The Blonde boy had brighter blue eyes than the girl and he was watching him curiously.

"You're in my place…"

Sasuke's musings were cut off when the first girl he saw talked. He shifted his gaze to her so she would now he was listening, it would be more bother to say that he was actually listening so that gesture would just have to do. The girl seemed to get the message for she continued on…

"My name is Sakura, and these are my friends, Ino and Naruto." then she pointed to the girl and then the boy.

"I found you two days ago by the local riverbank. You seemed to have had needed some help, so I decided to lend a hand…" she finished off with a slight smile.

Unfortunately, nothing past the lines of "by the local riverbank" registered in Sasuke's mind. He was currently busy contemplating on thinking about HOW he got to the said riverbank…

'_What happened to me two days ago?'_ he asked himself.

He racked his brain upside-down and inside-out but no answer came to him… It was all blank; his mind was all blank…

'_This can't be! Why? Why can't I recall anything?!'_

Sasuke was beginning to panic up inside. He tried to not focus on just two days ago… He tried to see if he can remember anything about himself. He tried to think of his home, his parents, his favorite color, the name of his pet, or if he ever had a pet for that matter…

…still nothing…

Sakura was worried at the look on the boy's face. He seemed to be awfully bothered about something. She hesitantly raised her hand and gently placed it on the boy's shoulder, in attempt to calm and reassure him. But it seemed like the wanted effect backfired, for the boy jolted when he felt her hand touch him. And thus she retracted her back by reflex as well…

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to scare you." Sakura added apologetically after she let her hand away due to the boy's jerk.

Those words had an interesting effect on her newest guest. He didn't think much about what the pink head said but hearing her say that he was scared triggered something within him… and he didn't like that certain something.

Sasuke seemed to not mind all the pain he was in at the moment, as he suddenly lifted his head and back up from the bed and turned sharply to face Sakura. He glared hard at her and snapped to the shocked girl.

"I AM **NOT** SCARED!" Sasuke said with anger in his voice. "Why would I be scared of a stupidly weak girl like you anyway?!"

Sakura was taken back by that reaction from the raven haired boy, she stood there with her eyes wide open and a somewhat hurt look painted on them, she was unable to neither move nor talk.

Naruto and Ino were also shocked and wasn't able to go mobile for a while. Did the new guy just called Sakura stupid? Sasuke was also not saying anything, as if thinking what happened wrongly.

The silence was broken by the sound of an open palm colliding with an unprotected cheek

"SLAP!"

\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///

Neji was currently walking through the big hallways of the Hyuuga main house. Normally he won't be trudging this part of the Hyuuga compound, he is afterall, just a branch member of the family.

But this time, he's made an exemption. After the awful tragedy that befell their close friends, the Uchihas, constant searches and investigations were held in order to try and shed some light to their unanswered questions. And because of that, many of the personnel on their clan have went out of the compound, so the ones left behind get the privilege of doing the compound responsibilities of those who are outside. Right now, he is filling in for the clan's message deliverer.

'_Stupid elders… Why do they have to make up such a weird job as "Message deliverer" anyway?'_ Neji thought irritably

'_This compound may be big, but not that big as to get someone to walk around for you to find the person you want to ask what he wants for dinner! …That's just a sign of being lazy.'_

"Either that or they just want another use for the branch members…" Neji whispered to himself as he continued on walking.

His inner musings were cut short as he heard some noises coming from the dojo hall. It seems that there's someone training inside the dojo.

"Haa! Tyaa! Umf! HYAA!!!"

And judging from the sounds the person was making, she was training pretty hard… Wait a minute, he knows that voice. He let his feet wander on to the dojo's door and carefully slide it open.

He wasn't at all surprised, when he found his cousin inside the room. She seemed to be so absorbed in what she's doing, that she didn't notice that Neji have already made his way inside the training hall.

Hinata was sparring with a dummy that was stuffed, in order to serve useful for those who wants to train giving hard blows to enemies. The pretty girl kept punching and kicking the dummy, one kick and punch after the other. The dummy is made of a sturdy log that allowed it to withstand the blow given off by the young lady, but soon enough, with one roundhouse kick, it finally gave in and it got smashed in two. The upper part flew a decent distance, before landing hard at the other end of the room.

Her white eyes watched as the dummy's detached half flew and landed with a thud on the direction opposite of her. She was breathing heavily. She was starting to feel the stress of the training she just engaged herself into. She didn't know how long she had been punching and kicking that dummy before she got it smashed. Her body suddenly felt so heavy and her legs gave in…

She started to fall, but a pair of stronger arms caught her from behind, just before she hit the floor. She looked behind her and found her cousin was the one who was holding her up. Neji gently sat Hinata on the floor and sat beside her.

"Are you alright?" he asked

Hinata was looking at the floor with a disappointed look in her eyes. She then answered "Hai…"

With that answer from his cousin, Neji didn't bother to ask further questions. He had a ton of question he wanted to ask, like why she was training so hard all of a sudden, or if she was over the death of her best friend, but he kept it to himself. He felt that Hinata wasn't in the mood to be answering his questions.

He just sat there, silently keeping his cousin company. Just when he thought that the silence they were in would last till the sun sets, he suddenly heard the girl beside her mumble something.

"I… I-I'm sorry you found me i-in that kind of state…" she said weakly while looking away from him, purposely avoiding eye contact.

"Well I'm not, if I hadn't found you a while ago, you would have probably gotten yourself hurt." He said evenly.

The girl beside him heaved a sigh and said. "I know… T-thank you, Neji-niisan."

"You're welcome…" he answered with a slight smile, a smile reserved for only those whom he truly cared about.

Hinata answered with a shy smile of her own. She was starting to feel better both inside and out. Sometimes, it's nice to have your cherished family with you…

Just then Sasuke flashed through her mind. She suddenly remembered that she promised herself that she would get stronger for him.

'_But still, there are times that you need to do things on your own….'_

Hinata looked at her cousin beside her. She waited for him to look at her too before she asked him.

"Neji-niisan, you're not usually in these parts of the compound. Was there something you had to do? Or were you looking for someone?"

Neji mentally slapped himself. He almost forgot about the _"job"_ he was asked to do. If he didn't get moving now, he might get scolded for taking too long to get it done. But can he leave Hinata alone now?

"I'm supposed to deliver a message to someone… But if you can't manage on your own, I can always just stay with you and walk you to your room where you can get some rest." Neji said to his cousin with concern.

Hinata smiled at him and said "Thanks Nii-san, but I will be alright on my own." And tried her best to sound convincing.

Neji just kept looking at her with his eyes clearly portraying the doubt he had for the words that passed his cousin's lips. Hinata noticed this, and so she stood up and went to the door of the hall, to prove that she really is alright. She was still feeling pretty sluggish, but she had to convince him that she's fine, or else he won't leave her by herself.

"See? I can walk properly. I won't fall again…" She said with a smile. Neji got up and walked towards her.

Hinata opened the door and stepped out of the dojo. She waited for Neji to follow her, and when he did she gave him another reassuring smile.

"Go on, you must get back to your work and deliver that message." Hinata encouraged.

"You know, you should also get back to your room so you can rest up properly." He replied with a worried look.

"Of course… I'll rest as soon as I close up the training hall. You should get going now Nii-san. I've kept you here for long enough. I'll be heading to my room too as soon as I close up the dojo." Hinata said with a straight face.

Eventually, Hinata managed to convince her cousin that she was about to rest up. He proceeded on to finding the person he's supposed to find and deliver the message to. Hinata gently waved goodbye to him with a smile on her face… But as soon as he turned on the corner, the smile on her face faded.

"Sorry Neji-niichan. But I have to do this." She whispered to herself.

She went inside the dojo and closed the door behind her. She took out another dummy and started her training over again. Even as the stress became tangible to her rapidly, she continued to hit the dummy as long as it takes for it to be worn out and snap like the other one.

'_Stronger… I must get stronger… This is for you Sasuke-chan.'_

Tears started to slide down her pretty face as she gave off a shout and punched a hole right through the dummy.

"Sniff, sniff…"

She wiped her teary eyes and went on to get a new dummy to determinedly continue on her training…

Nothing will ever be the same now that she's alone.

\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///o\O///

Everyone fell silent, none of them moved. Even the very air seemed to have been stilled be the heavy pressure around the room.

Suddenly, emerald eyes blinked… Sakura seemed to have only realized what she had done, and because of the manner she was raised in, she automatically blurted apologies to the young man she just slapped across the face.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I should've controlled my temper, I'm sorry… A-are you okay?" She was stuttering because of the speed which her words were coming out of her mouth. She looked expectantly at the boy sitting on the bed.

The boy blinked his obsidian hued eyes. He was still confused about things. He didn't really now what to answer or how to react. He ended up doing what his instincts told him to do: GLARE hard at the girl who slapped him.

As Sakura saw the boy's eyes look hard at her, she felt her heart sink… And here, she was hoping to befriend the new guy, guess she made the wrong first impression on him.

"Hey watch it pal! Don't go glowering eyes on Sakura-chan like that!" Naruto exclaimed advancing to close the distance between him and the bed.

"She's the one who acted violently!" was the retort of the other boy.

"WHA-! You snobby jerk! How mean can you get? Just admit your fault and apologize!" Naruto shouted

From the looks of the raven haired boy's face, he doesn't plan on doing anything Naruto said. He stayed seated there, with a hard stubborn and an "it's not my fault and I don't care even if you say it is" look on his face.

"Naruto it's okay… I shouldn't have slapped him. I lost control; I am the one who's wrong." Sakura said, trying to defend the boy from Naruto's accusations.

Naruto gaped at Sakura. But what did he expect anyway? Sakura is very polite and considerate of others, no matter how rude or conceited others are. That's what her mother taught her. She's made it second nature to think before she says anything or act. After all, she's the heir of the diplomatic name "Haruno" She should be able to do things as smooth as the spring breeze, and always face people with the freshness of the newly sprouted leaves… or so her father used to say. She looked at her raven new guest, smiled before bowing her head slightly and politely saying.

"I'm sorry about slapping you… I guess I got a bit too impulsive earlier. We'll leave you to yourself to rest up Mr. um… excuse me, but may I know your name?" she asked suddenly remembering she doesn't know the name of the person she's currently talking to.

Upon hearing the question of the pink haired girl, the boy visibly stiffened. What was he supposed to answer? He still can't get his head to work properly, he started to dig and sear for any information in his head, but all he could bring out was the dream he had before he woke up.

It was hot, very hot, burning…

His senses were starting to work one by one…

Pretty soon his eyes could make out the colors of orange and red, and suffocating smoke forced itself down his nasal passage, blocking his throat and taking its toll on his lungs…

He saw her… The lady that willed him to run and live on. She was far from him, he can't see well in the midst of the ashes, smoke, and haze because of the fire, but somehow he knew she was trapped and couldn't get up to him.

He didn't move, he made up half of his mind to just stand there and wait for his time to be over, but suddenly he heard her call out…

"_Go Sasuke! Leave this place! You must LIVE!"_

And so he did as he was told eventually…

He can't remember the dream properly, but it seemed so vivid a while ago when he had just woken up. He tried very hard to remember something, anything else, no dice… His head ached from all the thinking that he didn't notice the girl beside him lightly put her hand on his shoulder to make sure he's all right.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

He opened his eyes and focused his attention to the girl asking his well being. His headache slowly vanished as his mind was no longer forced to remember things he can't. Those green eyes softened his pain and for a moment, he was thankful she shook him out of his musings. But then, a nagging feeling told him that he shouldn't have this girl be too close and familiar with him. It felt weird, like he's betraying someone… He placed his own hand over the girl's and gently removed it from his shoulder. He didn't miss the brief flash of hurt on those soothing green eyes.

"Yeah, I… I think so…"

"Well that's good news. And what's your name again? I'm afraid I don't know what to call you."

"My name is Sasuke." he simply said, and he offered nothing more. He said nothing more about himself because he can't, he hoped that his memories would turn up soon, it would be very, very inconvenient not knowing anything besides you name. And to his surprise, Sakura asked him no further question.

"I see… Well Sasuke-san, you just go ahead and rest up, the three of us will be leaving now."

"Eh?" Naruto voiced out loudly, why are they going to leave? There were certainly a lot more things he wanted to say, retort, and ask to Sasuke.

Ino matched his tone of disbelief with her own "Why?" she would've very much wanted to stay with the new cute guy a few more minutes.

"Well, Sasuke-san obviously has been through a lot and I think we should let him be with himself for the time being." Sakura stated as an answer to her friends' whines.

She proceeded in pushing both of the out the door, and before she got out of the room herself, she peeked at Sasuke and smiled politely before saying

"Just rest up and don't worry about a thing. I'll deliver something for you to eat in a little bit okay? Don't strain yourself Sasuke-san."

He just blinked at her and the door slid close.

"Sakura-chan, that wasn't right. You shouldn't have thrown us out of the room. I wasn't finished talking to him."

Even as they were walking to the front door of the Haruno house, Naruto was still complaining to Sakura. And of course her other friend won't be left behind in the complaining part.

"Yeah, it's not fair to have him all to yourself Sakura!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. No matter what she say, it won't keep her only friends quiet, so she decided to let them rant until they're safely out of her house.

"He's tired and he can't deal with much right now. You guys know that." she tried to reason out, but of course, there were counters to her reason as her friends are currently reciting.

She didn't recognize half of what they're babbling, and she doubted it would've made sense anyway. They reached the front door and she sent them off with a small wave and a tired smile. After the were far from her sight she turned and marked her destination to be the kitchen, but after she rounded a corner she was forced to stop her tracks at the sight of her mother.

"When were you planning to tell me about your new pet exactly?"

Her voice was smooth and held no sort of ill feeling what so ever. Only her daughter would recognize the annoyance in her voice. And Sakura stood there with eyes wide and full of worry and even fear.

"I-I'm sorry okaa-sama… I wasn't planning to keep him from you. I-I just didn't got the chance to tell you…" she said looking down, and when she dared to lift her gaze, she saw her mother's eyes and she quickly looked back down again.

"…" Kikuno said nothing, an indication that she was waiting for something more from her little girl.

"He was suffering from a fever, so I had to attend to him. I found him drenched in the river and I didn't know where else to take him…" _'Also I lost my necklace that day and I just can't tell you that, you would've been more annoyed okaa-sama'_ but Sakura left that last part to herself

She heard a sigh and assumed that her mother's annoyance was replaced by exasperation, a very big improvement. At least she won't worry about her mother being mad anymore. She won't be able to handle it if her mother gets angry at her.

"You know you can't keep picking up strays Sakura" her mother said, and Sakura was reminded of Ino's words.

"I had no other choice… I couldn't leave him, I had to help."

"Naruto's case was one thing, another poor, lost, soul is another. You know what the people said when you first found Naruto and took him in… When you _helped _him, you can't risk another scandal-"

"HE WOULD'VE DIED IF I DIDN'T!"

Sakura exclaimed having lost her control once again; she's slipping in that department more and more recently. When she realized what she just did, she covered her mouth with her hands and her shaking knees gave underneath her and she couldn't help the tears that started flowing from her eyes.

Kikuno rushed to her daughter's side, she was trying to avoid another outburst like this, but she guessed it was inevitable. All she could do is try to calm her little Sakura down and hope that the public won't make a greater issue of her daughter taking in another unknown person without batting an eye, than they did with the first time.

Sakura sobbed and let all those bottled up feelings in her heart pour out. Why would the people say all sorts of bad things about her, and worse her family, when all she wanted was to help a person in need? Did she have to endure all those floating gossips about her when her intentions are pure? It was never determined who she meant when she said her last words before she broke down. Maybe it applied to both of the young men whose lives she will eventually change forever.

\O///o\O///o\O///o **End of Chapte**r o\O///o\O///o\O///

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**Author's notes: **Thanks for reading, hope you liked it! Comments? Suggestions? Questions? Just drop a review… And sorry for the LONG wait. Forgive me? 

…**Emi-chan…**


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